Improvement in dredge-bottles



W. SELLERS.

Dredge-Bottle.

No. 208,125. Patented Sept. 17.1878.

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N PEI ERS. PHDTO-UTHOGRAPHEH. WASHINGTON. Dv C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

YVILLIAM SELLERS, OF HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS.

IM PROVEMENT IN DREDGE-B OTTLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 208,125, dated September 17, 1878; application filed May 18, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM SELLERs, of Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Table Salt-Bottles, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and efficient means for separating particles of salt, or breaking up lumps of salt when used in salt-bottles having perforated covers.

It is well known that salt has a tendency to. become caked when kept in a bottle, and va-.

rious devices have been used to agitate the same, consisting of articles of different shapes, which are placed within the bottle and caused to move about to agitate the salt in shaking the bottle. With many of these devices the salt is very liable to become packed in the cover, and thus stop up the holes in the same and prevent the free passage of the salt through the holes.

By my invention this objection is entirely obviated, and while breaking up the lumps of salt in the bottle, the holes in the cover of the same are kept entirely clear for the freepassage of the salt.

The invention consists of a sliding weight attached to a rod or bar secured to the inside of the cap or cover of the bottle, and extendin g downward into the bottle about half-way, more or less, as desired. To the upper part of the sliding weight are attached a number of arms or rods, projecting upward into the space within the cap or cover, so that when the bottle is turned upside down and shaken the salt will be forced toward and out of the holes in the cap by the action of ,the sliding weight, and the ends of the prongs or rods will be caused to enter the holes in the cap and force out any salt that may be in the same, at the same time preventing the passage of any salt until the bottle is again shaken.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l represents a salt-bottle with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a section of the sliding weight and its prongs, and also of the cap in an inverted position. Y

A represents a bottle for containing salt, and may be of any desired size or shape. B is the perforated cap or cover. To the under side of the cover is attached a rod or bar, 0,

which should be square in cross-section, or of any other shape except round, extending downward about half-way, more or less, as desired, through the bottle. On this rod is placed a weight, D, the rod passing through the center of the weight, so that the latter can slide freely on the same. On the lower end of the rod G is a projection or shoulder, e, and toward the upper end, or at any suitable point on the rod, is another projection or shoulder, d, between which two projections the movement of the weight D is limited. From the upper end of the weight D extend a number of rods or prongs, E, to a point on, or about on, a level with the lower portion of the cap B. The projection or shoulder d on the upper portion of the rod 0 is so arranged that when the bottle isinvertecl to shake out the salt, the weight D will rest on the said projection, and the ends of the prongs or rods E will just pass through the holes 0 in the cap B, as shown in Fig. 2. The number of prongs are designed to correspond with the number of holes in the cap,

and as the shape of the hole in the weight 1) conforms to the square rod, the entrance of the rods into the. holes in the cap is always insured.

When in use the bottle A is inverted and shaken. The salt passing toward the cap is agitated, and the particles separated by the sliding weight D and the prongs E, the latter passing into the holes 0 of the cap, which are at once closed, thus clearing the holes and preventing the further escape of the salt. By continuing the motion of shaking the bottle in an inverted posit-ion up and down, the salt will be forced out through the holes in quantities as desired.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the perforated cap B, of a rod, 0, a slidingweight,D,and the prongs or rods E, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed myname to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM SELLERS.

Witnesses OHAs. B. EMERSON, J. H. ADAMS. 

